Re-post Your First Post Here.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
81

From before the millenium, in one of the countless threads about the millenium, I showed myself pendantic and insufferable from the first moment (I was M.K. then):
September, 1999

As for “how we counted the year 1 A.D. after 1 B.C.”, remember that the reckoning of “Anno Domini” was developed in what we call the year 525 by Dionysis Exiguus. He figured that Jesus was born 753 years after the founding of Rome (at the time, in the West years were usually reckoned using the start of Diocletian’s reign as year 1 (what we call A.D. 284)). Of course it’s generally agreed that Dionysus Exiguus miscalculated by 3 or 4 years… The system was adopted very slowly anyhow (popularized by Bede in the 700’s), and “B.C.” only came into use in the 17th century.
(See D. Boorstin for a good explanation of the vagaries of reckoned time)

82

Oh my God!

I FOUND my first post!.

Oh! The question!

Oh! The grammar!

Oh! The humanity!

83

My first post was in late December, 1999, (despite was it says below my user-name). So I don’t think it’s around now.

It was a comment on a Cecil column (that I also can’t find) about why certain soda pops taste differently in different countries IIRC.

I thanked The Master for solving one of the mysteries of my life - why, when I was in Toronto on vacation, my Mountain Dews mysteriously tasted yucky.

Then Arnold W. or somebody chastised me for not providing a link to the column. :slight_smile:

84

My first post was long, really long and it was about European and American interrelations. Almost 900 posts later my posts are still tediously long and often enough about European and American interrelations…

The OP called it a great post and I guess my vanity got the better of me, damned be I for it!

It’s so long that I won’t bother to post it here since most of you would get headaches and heartburn from all the scrolling, just to get to the next post.

85

Here’s a question that came to me on a rainy afternoon: I once heard that the tiny mountain nation of Andorra (between Spain and France) must pay the equivalent of $20 a year to stay independent. Is this true? What if Andorra welches one year? Would the French and Spainish team up and beat up one the little guy?

I didn’t lurk or anything. I just posted an OP. I’ve matured.

What?

86

The very vaguely creepy thread

87

From a list of what Real Men won’t say

*This will be my first posting ever. I joined for the holes in your underwear thread but found this one before I got to it, hey I’m a guy, I’m not picky. Sorry for the lil ol hijack.

I could eat you with a spoon (cannibals are exempt as are really kinky people who actually mean it).

Thongs are just to revealing.

Screw Marsha Brady, I like Alice.

I’ll have the half portion.

Lite dressing, on the side.

I’ll take a zima.

Oh, I’ll just nibble off of your plate.

I just can’t get my whites as bright as yours.

I’d better not if I want to fit into those jeans by Friday.

Bob, you have to tell your wife you’ve been cheating on her with an 18 year old french model. (sorry bob, your check bounced)*

88

[Posted December 7, 2000, GQ thread “Iron” - one syllable?]

Not as bad as many of my other posts, but still not exactly reeking with awesomeness…

89

<brag>

My first post was as the OP of post #8 on this board!

But that’s not what I’m bragging about. Read through my answer and you’ll find out why I brag!

Unc Cece had it “half-right” on his Ni-Cad Battery answer recently published.

I used to manage a two-way radio shop. Now, as you can imagine, Ni-Cad batteries were very popular for the handheld radios, as you could simply recharge them instead of having to buy dry-cell or alkaline batteries. One of our biggest problems was “ni-cad memory.”

It would occur when a user would take his radio out of the charger, use it for 15-20 minutes or so, then put it back in the charger. Pretty soon the battery would have only 15-20 minutes of useful life left in it. I saw this happen more than once.

While I can not give you the “scientific” answer why this occurs, I can tell you it happens, and quite a bit. I had a Ni-Cad battery on a amatuer radio of mine, and with proper charge-discharge cycles, the battery lasted me 6 years! Not bad for a product that is designed to last 1 1/2 to 2 years!

There is one way of eliminating “memory effect” from Ni-Cad cells, and that is deliberate “overshock”, as we called it - the application of high voltage for a VERY short period of time, say 2 seconds or so. CAUTION!!! Do NOT try this unless you have a variable power supply, and TWO DVMs, one to monitor the power supply, the other the battery! This can result in explosion of the battery pack if the surge voltage is left on the pack too long!

Cece, you’re right in stating the voltage in the battery is still there underneath the “memory effect”, but aside from having a TRAINED TECHNICIAN perform the above on the battery pack, there is no way to access that stored votage underneath the memory effect.

There was a VERY informative article on Ni-Cad and Ni-MH (Nickel-Metal-Hydride) batteries in a recent issue of QST magazine, I invite you to visit the ARRL website at ww.arrl.org and do a search for Ni-Cad for the article. It explains the memory effect much better than I ever could.

Thanks and keep up the good work of informing the “unwashed masses”!

Rico

"It’s hard to be religious when certain people are not incinerated by bolts of lightning…

And looky this! I got an answer from the MASTER! And it was before he even registered as the Perfect Master! Realize this was March 1999! And he quoted me!

Cecil Adams
Guest

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A
Rico writes:
quote:

One of our biggest problems was “ni-cad memory.”

It would occur when a user would take his radio out of the charger, use it for 15-20 minutes or so, then put it back in the charger. Pretty soon the battery would have only 15-20 minutes of useful life left in it. I saw this happen more than once.

I think what you’re describing here is the phenomenon of “voltage depression,” which I distinguished from “memory effect.” I notice even in the technical literature there is a tendency to equate these terms, but you know me, I’m a purist.

Here’s an example of voltage depression in a nickel-metal hydride battery. You’ll notice in the chart that after repeated shallow discharges the cell drops to 1.15v prematurely. But there’s still quite a bit of charge left. NiCad batteries are more susceptible to voltage depression than NiMH, but the idea is that same. The cure is simple - subject the cell or battery to several full discharge/charge cycles. I agree with rhohm that over the long run NiMH will give you less trouble in this respect than NiCads.

</brag>

90

Well hello to all, I’ve been what you call ‘lurking’ for quite some time now, hooked in through the SD web site, observing all that goes on 'round these parts. Today i decided i was finally going to take the plunge – make my first post. Of course i wouldn’t want to waste something so precious posting on an inane or unpopular thread, and as i was considering where i should write my first post, it occurred to me that i could ask other SDMB posters for some advice. What’s the best place to make my first post? Any ideas?

I started the thread to introduce myself to the boards, and I actually got quite a warm welcome from a wide array of posters. This was before I was informed that attractive formatting and proper capitalization were necessary, but I still felt pretty good about my first post (despite revealing me to be the content-free MPSIMS dweller that I remain to this day), although I ruined my good first impression with every subsequent post in that thread.

91

My first post, made in March of 99 was asking what was at the end of r a i n b o w s

92

the answer of course was:

Cecil!:cool: :smiley: :slight_smile: :o

93

From Practical stuff everyone should know

  • Cramb 23 people in a phonebox
  • Instigate a riot
  • Exume a body
  • Build some kind of potato throwing device
  • Forge a passport

You never know when they’ll come in handy

egg

94

I vowed not to post to this thread. I assumed that it would put a strain on the server that it didn’t need. Self-serving crap.

But, I had to go search. I searched under my name for posts. I knew what my first post was, but I had to search just to be sure and to have access to the actual thread.

WOW! I posted it August 20, 1999. And I remember reading replies for the next day or so. But, now that I go back and search, there were 19 posts in that thread. People kept posting long after I read their responses. Interesting how many posters come and go. And many of them are good. I asked about the difference of thickness of aluminum beer cans vs. aluminum “pop” cans. (I was a boring guy even then). I guess I only followed the thread for a day or so. Now that I’ve gone back and read the replies, I’m impressed how many people chimed in and gave good replies.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=4720

95

From this Thread:

“…and straped to the bed. All the girls jump on the bed and start to…”

96

My ORIGINAL POST, from my original username, before the first big crash. (Password was lost.)

"CN Tower Debate.
We here in Toronto are very proud to have our CN Tower because it is one of the tallest ‘buildings’ (I use the term in reference to something that is ‘built’) in the world, but it is not classified as a building and is, therefour, not the tallest.

Now what it is, and correct me if I am wrong, is the “Worlds Tallest Free-Standing Structure”. (Meaning something that does not have any support assistance.) There is an antena in Russia that is taller, but it is supported by cables.

So, even though many Canadians think that Americans are pretty dim, it’s pretty obvious that the Canadian who started this post shows that we have our fair share too. =)"